General: MOBA Roundup - New Hero Updates

The fast-growing MOBA genre is becoming increasingly competitive, and that means MOBA makers have to keep the changes coming fast and furious. Here's a smattering of this week's MOBA updates.

SMITE: Wednesday, the popular God-centric game added yet another damage-doing deity to its pantheon: Bellona, Roman Goddess of War. This fetching new melee fighter boasts five special powers: Master of War, Shield Bash, Bludgeon, Scourge and Eagle's Rally and wears the hell out of a suit of armor.

VAINGLORY: In keeping with the "new hero" theme, this week everyone's favorite mobile MOBA introduced Celeste, a mage with the power to control the stars. This formidable child of Ardan can launch a Solar Storm, cause targets to collapse with Core Collapse, and deal heavy crystal damage with Heliogenesis.

INFINITE CRISIS: The ladies keep the party going strong this week as Katana, Mistress of the Soultaker joins the DC comics-based MOBA. Coming March 4, Katana gives players the opportunity to take vengeance on their enemies who specializes in burst damage. Her Kendo skills include:

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: The world's biggest MOBA this week released a new ultimate skin for musical mage, Sona. Made in collaboration with electronica stars Nosaj Thing, Bassnectar and Crystal Method, DJ Sona is on sale this weekend for 2450 RP (after that, it goes up to 3250). The skin gives players the ability to swap between different musical types: Kinetic, Concussive and Ethereal and transforms Sona's look.

All of DJ Sona's music can be downloaded for free right now and once she goes live, will be available on a variety of platforms. So if you're finding yourself in the mood to put on some headphones and drop the beat, visit the official League of Legends website.

E-Sports corrupts the entire POINT of gaming which is to have fun. Yea you sometimes compete with friends... but having an e-peen over Counterstrike or Super Smash Bros is taking it a bit far. E-"sports" are retarded in general and while there may be one or two idiots who make money from it, the majority are forever going to live in their mommy's basements.

There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre

Honestly, what I like in a MOBA is the fact that you can jump in and very quickly be no better or worse off than a super-old player. As in, every game things are reset, which is great for quick matches. Shooters have been leveraging the same concept for decades now.

And simplification is the trend, if you look at DOTA to LOL to HotS. Which makes for even faster games!

And the diversity of options is also key, so adding more *unique* heroes should be very desirable.

I wish I was better at playing MOBAs but sadly I am quite awful at point click. I do not do very well and even when I played Diablo I never went up the ranks just the basic game and that was enough for me. I do not like point click but what to do I guess I will have to learn if I wish to play these games more competitively. I'll get left behind or else when all the games that come out are MOBAs.

Originally posted by SulaaOriginally posted by RobokappMOBAs make great E-Sports. This is what MMOs have failed to achieve.If Themeparks make instanced PVP, then the E-Sport direction is what they should aim for.

Why should MMO or MMORPGs aim to compete with specialized lobby PVP games in first place?

It's pointless, they cannot win this. Because lobby PVP games are specialized in instanced PVP only, don't have to go for any compromises.

Originally posted by RobokappOriginally posted by SulaaOriginally posted by RobokappMOBAs make great E-Sports. This is what MMOs have failed to achieve.If Themeparks make instanced PVP, then the E-Sport direction is what they should aim for.

Why should MMO or MMORPGs aim to compete with specialized lobby PVP games in first place?

It's pointless, they cannot win this. Because lobby PVP games are specialized in instanced PVP only, don't have to go for any compromises.

usually big things can incorporate small things and grow.

would it be really hard to add a Smite minigame to WoW for example?

33 WoW specs. how many heroes in SMITE?

Actually Blizzard did opposite. They are releasing Heroes of The Storm, a separate MOBA game.

Anyway - would it be hard? To have something that would be high quality and could actually compete with i.e. Smite? Huge project for 2-3 years propably. + all the headache and danger of incorporating something like this in WoW netcode, engine and servers.

Not gonna happen. Why would they even do something like this in first place? Big risk, big investment, little sense.

MMORPG arena combat is losing against separate lobby PVP game combat and for a good reasons. There is little advantage of playing arena combat in an MMORPG and big downsides. Both from player and developer point of view.